Morsum cliff

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Coordinates: 54 ° 52 ′ 38 "  N , 8 ° 27 ′ 38"  E

Map: Schleswig-Holstein
marker
Morsum cliff​
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Schleswig-Holstein
General plan
The Morsum cliff

The Morsum-Kliff is a cliff coast in the east of the island of Sylt , which extends approximately between the Hindenburgdamm and the place Morsum over a distance of almost 2,000 meters. The Morsum cliff is a nature reserve and national geotope .

geology

system series step ≈ age ( mya )
after that after that after that younger
Neogene Pliocene Piacenzium 2.588
⬍
3.6
Zancleum 3.6
⬍
5.333
Miocene Messinium 5.333
⬍
7,246
Tortonium 7,246
⬍
11.62
Serravallium 11.62
⬍
13.82
Langhium 13.82
⬍
15.97
Burdigalium 15.97
⬍
20.44
Aquitanium 20.44
⬍
23.03
before before before older
The east block of the Morsum cliff. Location: above the mica clay with a view of the layers of limonite sandstone and kaolin sand, the inclination of which is clearly visible here. To the left of the kaolin sand another mica clay block. Above, post-glacial sand dunes. Part of the Hindenburgdamm can be seen in the background (top left).
The Morsum cliff. On the right of the picture (somewhat obscured by the vegetation) Upper Miocene mica clay, in the middle red limonite sandstone and on the left kaolin sand.

The geological significance of this cliff lies primarily in the fact that the formations exposed here, under the influence of the glaciers of the Saale glacial period (around 120,000 years ago), were compressed from their natural position into several clods (or scales) and tilted so that they are now can be seen next to each other (and not one above the other) in the cliff in the order in which they were formed.

The actual cliff formation only took place in the postglacial . The sand dunes that occur locally in the upper section of the cliff also date from this period .

The cliff itself is subdivided into four floes, east floe, main floe, middle floe and west floe. The geological structure of these clods is similar. Starting from the original position (from bottom to top, which now corresponds to a view from west to east after the clods have been erected) these are:

These layers represent a geological period of approximately 7–8 million years, with the oldest formation (mica clay of the Syltian) being dated to an absolute age of 9 to 11 million years.

History

In the course of the planning of the Hindenburg dam, considerations were made of removing parts of the Morsum cliff as building material for this permanent connection between Sylt and the mainland. Private initiatives thwarted this plan and achieved the protection of a 43 hectare area in 1923. The initiators are also founders of the Naturschutz Insel Sylt association, from which the Naturschutzgemeinschaft Sylt eV emerged in 1977, which is now the patron of the NSG Morsum-Kliff.

Conservation and Access

The cliff is strictly protected. Collecting fossils is prohibited, as is, of course, climbing the steep bank. The most accessible is the Ostscholle, to which a footpath is signposted from a car park not far from a hotel complex, which also leads to the Wadden Sea .

Panoramas

  • View from the red lime sandstone area

  • View from the area of ​​the kaolin sand

  • General view from the north from the mudflats

literature

  • Hans Jessel: Sylt. A travel book. Hamburg 1989.
  • Kai-Uve Bossau and Roland Klockenhoff: News on palaeontology and stratigraphy of the Sylt level on the Morsumkliff / Sylt. In: Schr. Naturw. Ver. Schleswig-Holst. , Vol. 47, pp. 25-38, Kiel 1977.
  • Winfried Hinsch: The mollusc fauna of the Syltium from the Morsum cliff. In: Schr. Naturw. Ver. Schleswig-Holst. Vol. 47, pp. 39-56, Kiel 1977.
  • W. Hinsch and B. Menke: The Morsum cliff / Sylt. In: Der Geschiebe-Collector , 7 (2), pp. 49–56, Hamburg 1972.
  • Ekkehard Klatt: Sylt. Geology of a North Sea island. Wachholtz, Neumünster 2006, ISBN 978-3-529-05006-0 (for the Morsum cliff, see pp. 55–59).

Web links

Commons : Morsum Kliff  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ State ordinance on the nature reserve "Morsum-Kliff". In: GVOBl. 1968 273. Landesportal Schleswig-Holstein, August 9, 1968, accessed on March 15, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Ekkehard Klatt: Highly pressed underground - The Morsum cliff on Sylt . In: Ernst-Rüdiger Look, Ludger Feldmann (Ed.): Fascination Geology. The most important geotopes in Germany. E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-510-65219-3 , p. 10f.
  3. ↑ W. Hinsch and B. Menke: Das Morsum-Kliff / Sylt. In: Der Geschiebesammler, 7 (2), p. 49, Hamburg 1972.
  4. ↑ Leaflet 5473 Morsum Kliff (November 2016 edition) , Visitor Information System (BIS) for nature conservation and NATURA 2000 areas in Schleswig-Holstein from the State Office for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas of Schleswig-Holstein (LLUR)